Texas A&M Transportation Institute researchers are studying what folks in major Texas metro areas know and think about various types of shared transportation options, and they’re offering $50 to participants. Here’s a link to the survey that gets you into the larger study, if you’re chosen.

The research is tied to a project researchers are conducting for the Texas Department of Transportation. The agency wants to know more about Texans’ attitudes regarding services like Uber, ZipCar and bike-sharing programs, said Gretchen Stoeltje, an assistant research scientist on the project.

The services are relatively new, and use of them around Texas is growing. So it only makes sense for state officials to see how interested folks are in using them, and what people know — or think they know — about using a smartphone to hail a ride or a credit card to check out a bike.

On an unrelated note, the agency listed at the bottom of the survey solicitation, the Texas A&M University Human Subjects Protection Program, might be the most ominous sounding name for a group of people not related to a war crime.